Chapter 228 The happiness of a dragon and a phoenix (twins)
A white steed flits past a crack. In a blink of the eye, five years had gone by. It was another hot summer.
A white steed flits past a crack: how time flies
The big mansion of Gu household had been rebuilt in Jingtian City. Although, the grass and trees inside were different from before, but every time when it was this season, Shu Huna would always remember her first summer here.
At that time, the weather was hotter than now. At that time, the people of Gu household were strangers to here. At that time, she was at lost about the future. The only good news was that at that time, Gu Xiran was also at her side.
Shu Huan sat in front of the window and was lost in thoughts while she held a brush. There was a touch of green outside the window. The cicadas were babbling on the branches. The sounds were closely one after another as if it never ceased.
Maid Meijing lifted the curtain and came in. Seeing her lost in thoughts in front of the window, she couldn’t help but laugh. She (M) walked to her and put a small porcelain jar in front of her.
Shu Huan had been disturbed. She came out of her trance and touched the porcelain jar. She asked laughing, “What is it today?”
Meijing laughed, “Iced watermelon juice.”
Sure enough, the porcelain jar felt cold. That rain-glazed surface was covered with fine small droplets which looked very tempting.
These days, Meijing racked her brains to make her cold and delicious drinks to relieve the heat. She (SH) was tired of those commons like mung bean lily soup and pickled plum soup. Then, grape juice, cantaloupe juice, cherry juice and etcetera appeared. In fact, many times, Shu Huan wanted to say that there was no need to go through so much trouble and that it would better to bring the fruit directly. However, when she saw Meijing being so happily busy, she let her be.
“If it has been set aside for too long, the taste will change. Does second young mistress want to drink it now?” Meijing asked and without the approval of Shu Huan, she just opened the lid and carefully took out a porcelain bowl from the porcelain jar covered with ice cubes.
The white porcelain bowl coupled with the red watermelon juice was beautiful. Shu Huan looked at it for a while before she picked up the bowl and took a sip. It had a sweet scent and was deliciously cold. The heat disappeared immediately.
She smiled slightly, put down the bowl and said, “You are becoming more virtuous. When Ranmo returns from this business trip, just marry him. It happened that he lacked people to care about his well-being. He came over here with a sad face to beg me a many time already…”
“Second young mistress!” Meijing’s face immediately got red. She didn’t wait for Shu Huan to finish before she complained, “I already said that I won’t marry. I want to keep you company.”
Shu Huan laughed out loud. Before she could speak, she heard the curtain being raised. Gu Xiran came in and glanced twice at Meijing. He joked, “I beg you to marry sooner! If you keep my wife company , then what about me?”
Meijing’s face reddened even more. However, after staying with them for so long, she also became eloquent. She turned her face and said, “Second young master should go keep little young master and little young miss company. It’s fine that second young mistress has only me here.”
At that time, Liangchen and the wet nurse brought in that pair of twins Gu Yuan and Gu Nian. Hearing her (M) say that, Liangchen said to the wet nurse, “Wet nurse Xu, listen to her. She is trying to steal our job!”
As she talked, she asked Meijing, “If second young master keeps little young master and little young miss, then what should I do?”
Meijing laughed so much that she hugged her belly and said, “You should marry! Accountant He had waited many years for you.”
The accountant He she mentioned was a newly hired accountant by Gu Xiran after he took over. Originally, he also came from a great family. Because his family suffered a reversal of fortune, he had to go out to make a living. When he got to Gu household, he always worked diligently and steadily. Because Shu Huan opened shops that had nothing to do with Gu household’s fragrance business and only sold her own calligraphy, paintings, colored stones and some odd-crafted gadgets, her business was not bad. The money earned every month was more than enough to cover her own expenses. Hence, she often sent Liangchen over to check the accounts with accountant He.
Over the course of time, the two got familiar and they also got interested in each other. Although, they haven’t said it clearly, but one didn’t take a wife when he came off age and the other didn’t marry when she was old enough. Everyone could see it clearly. Even Shu Huan had asked Liangchen several times how she thought about it. It happened that Liangchen acted easy-mannered usually, but when it came to love, she was stumped for words. Shu Huan could only go let Gu Xiran discuss with accountant He. Only recently did the two reveal this relationship and was only waiting for a good day to be picked to marry.
Although, it was revealed, but when the lifelong event was mentioned, there were only a few girls that could remain calm. Liangchen naturally got shy and scolded Meijing, “The more you talk, the more overboard you are going. If it wasn’t because I’m holding a child now, I would go tear your mouth!”
As the two maids argued jokingly, Gu Xiran already reached out a finger to tease Gu Yuan. Gu Yuan opened a pair of black crystal grape-like eyes and grasped his index finger. He opened his mouth and wanted to bite it. This child was growing milk teeth. He wanted to bite everything he saw. Gu Xiran naturally wouldn’t let him bite him. He retrieved his finger causing Gu Yuan to bite emptiness. His thick and long eyelashes flashed twice, and he suddenly burst into tears.
When he cried, that little sister of his who came out of their mother’s belly a few minutes later, flattened her petal-like lips and cried. The cries of the two children immediately filled the room, making Liangchen and Meijing didn’t care about quarreling anymore. They made funny faces and held edible things to tease them.
Shu Huan threw a handkerchief at Gu Xiran and scolded laughingly, “Wipe the swear from your forehead. You are already a dad and still doesn’t act like a dad. After you made them cry, you don’t even bother to console them!”
“How did I not bother?” Gu Xiran took the handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He leaned over to kiss Gu Nian’s tender cheek, “Daddy will kiss you. After the kiss, you can’t cry anymore.”
How could Gu Nian be so easy to fool. Seeing that Gu Xiran’s face got closer, she patted Gu Xiran’s face with her small and chubby hands and struggled to push away his face. As she muttered mom vaguely, she cried louder.
Shu Huan quickly took over Gu Nian. As a result, Gu Yuan saw that. He reached out his hands from the wet nurse’s embrace and wanted to go to her. The five adults were flustered. Shu Huan prayed to the Buddha. Fortunately, she gave birth to twins in the ancient times. There were maids and nannies to help her here. If it was in the present times, they would entangle her so much that she wouldn’t have time to sleep!
After finally coaxing the children, Shang Xin entered while holding a wooden box and laughed, “Second young mistress, the salary of this month had been paid. I came from old madam’s. She was sulking with a grumpy face and refused to take the medicine and eat. She only keeps repeating that she wants to see her great-grandson and great-granddaughter. I think that second young mistress should go over quickly. If you go a bit later, she will complain that she is aching all over and have to invite doctor Ji over!”
As the saying goes, an old child; the older one got, the more childish one became. Their old madam was one. A few years ago, she was so ill that they thought that they had to prepare for a funeral. However, after Gu Xiran took over Gu household’s business, she was at ease and began to nourish her health. Gradually, her condition improved. After two years, Gu household’s business not only showed improvement but also developed better than before under Gu Xiran’s management. This old madam became completely at ease and was full of smiled and in a good mood all day long. Naturally, her body strengthened and became healthier.
There was just one small bad thing. Old madam didn’t bother with the affairs of the household and business and was very bored. She liked to call Shu Huan over to play cards. She was paralyzed and couldn’t pick up the cards, so, she let the maids pick them up for her. Usually, half a day would be gone playing cards like that. If it wasn’t because the mentality of Fang shi recuperated a lot in recent years and often coaxed this old madam in Shu Huan’s stead, Shu Huan truly wouldn’t have the time to do other things.
Shi: clan
Until half year ago, after Shu Huan gave birth to the children, old madam didn’t look for her anymore to play cards. However, she caused a fuss about wanting to see the children. Otherwise, she would go on a hunger strike and let her body become uncomfortable, making Ji Danqing come over to accompany her and chat with her. Or, it would make Gu Xihe drop all things to come coax her.
Shu Huan and Gu Xiran didn’t take her tantrums too seriously because they knew that she didn’t have evil intentions. It was because when people get old, they are more afraid of being lonely. She wanted to use an excuse to get more attention from her grandchildren. When you think about it, it was quite pitiful. Hence, they let her be. Anyway, she still understood where the bottom line was when she threw a tantrum. Therefore, she would stop the moment she was coaxed.
When Shu Huan heard Shang Xin say this, she remembered that she didn’t went over to pay her respect yet today. She said, “I still have something to discuss with second young master. Wet nurse Xu and Liangchen, take the children there first. I will come in a moment.”
The wet nurse and Liangchen carried the children over. Shang Xin and Meijing had nothing to do at the moment, but they knew that this couple wanted a private talk. Hence, they excused themselves and went out.